Sci-fi thriller Spiderhead unintentionally reveals the limits of Netflix as a streaming service. The star is Chris Hemsworth, who is about to appear in Thor: Love and Thunder, which will probably be the biggest film of the summer. The director is Joseph Kosinski, who also helmed Top Gun: Maverick, the current biggest film of the summer. But Netflix has seemingly zero interest in putting its films in a context where it might directly compete with movie theaters, as that would risk implying theaters are the superior viewing experience. It is a shame, since Spiderhead is a rare pleasure nowadays – a witty, provocative genre film for adults – and that kind of movie deserves more support than its producers are giving.
Kosinski starts with sunny exterior shots of a pristine ocean setting. It looks like a travelogue, the first of many grim jokes, as most of the action takes place at a remote prison adjacent to the shore. Nicknamed “Spiderhead” for its unusual shape, this is the sort of place where the warden, Steve (Hemsworth), performs drug-based experiments on his prisoners. They all volunteered to be there, enjoying more privileges than they would at a normal, state-run facility. What kind of experiments take place? Steve and his assistant observe as they inject their subjects with behavioral-enhancing drugs and take notes about the immediate effects. All the drugs offer an extreme version of a common emotion. When Jeff (Miles Teller) and Heather (Tess Haubrich) get dosed with an aphrodisiac, mere moments pass before they’re fucking like bunnies.
It will not shock you to learn Steve has an unscrupulous agenda, one that he hides from his subjects. One of Spiderhead’s charms is how it takes time to get there, focusing more on the relationships between all the characters. Jeff is demure, almost shy, because many of the experiments embarrass him. After he runs into Heather again, remembering their intense physical encounter, he withdraws because his passion was ephemeral (we also learn from flashbacks that he feels lingering guilt from the crime that first put him in prison). His only true friendship is with Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), the prison’s high-end chef, because they never shared the lab-rat treatment.
Still, it is Steve who casts a long shadow over everything that happens. In a relaxed comic performance, Hemsworth is in rare form. Steve is not just a master manipulator, but the kind of tech bro asshole who acts like everyone’s best friend as long it’s convenient to him. The script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, adapted from a George Saunders short story, adds another appealing eccentricity for Steve. He loves New Wave music, so he sometimes blares it over the intercoms, or gracefully dances alone to Roxy Music. It’s enough to make you wish Hemsworth would never make another Thor film.
While most of the drugs in the film are harmless, aside from the possibility of embarrassment or venereal disease, one of the drugs provokes an extreme negative response. Jeff says it’s worse than setting yourself on fire, and Kosinski turns the screws when Steve puts Jeff in an impossible situation: he forces Jeff to choose who receives the “bad” drug and to observe the consequences. Teller has had an uneven career as of late, but in this scene – with Kosinski shooting him in close-up – is a reminder of his talent. He has an uncommon flare for understatement and carefully concealed rage, a perfect mix of qualities in a film that requires changing emotions at the drop of a hat.
Spiderhead is one hell of a wind-up, so it is inevitable the follow through would be relatively underwhelming. Kosinski and screenwriters do not follow through with the logical conclusion of their premise, ending the plot a twist too early and relying on conventional action instead. No prison thriller is complete without an escape, even when the prison looks like a resort, and so Jeff/Lizzy must fight their way through several obstacles. At least the film never forgets that the premise is a constant opportunity to explore situational irony, so the escape scenes also include inventive little comic flourishes. Kosinski stops short of making a grandiose point about free will, and while that may feel like a disappointment, maybe it’s to his credit. Anything more serious might diminish our desire – or Steve’s – for a wicked good time.
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